


Little and Broken, But Still Good

by AnonEhouse



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Asthmatic Steve, Cap-Ironman Bingo, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Kid Steve Rogers, Kid Tony Stark, Kidnapping, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-04-07 01:04:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4243584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonEhouse/pseuds/AnonEhouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>De-aged Tony and Steve bond together to escape their kidnappers. It's not easy when you're five and one of you has asthma, but they're both stubborn. And they have friends they don't remember.</p><p>No really angsty bits, just an excuse for me to write little Steve and Tony.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little and Broken, But Still Good

(If you are reading this on any PAY site this is a STOLEN WORK, the author has NOT Given Permission for it to be here. If you're paying to read it, you're being cheated too because you can read it on Archiveofourown for FREE.)

Tony sat up and looked around. His head hurt, and everything smelled funny, and there was a skinny blond kid sharing the smelly cot with him. Neither of them had any clothes on, and it was cold. The room was a bare concrete box, like the A-Bomb bunker under the mansion, but this wasn't Dad's bunker anyway, because Dad wouldn't let it be so stinky, and there wouldn't be any cracks in the walls. He went over to the only door and tried to open it. Locked. He took a deep breath, and then a couple more as he figured out what must have happened. He wasn't going to cry. Crying got you nowhere.

He poked the kid in the shoulder. Nothing happened. He poked the kid harder. That got a squeaky noise and, "Go 'way."

Tony poked again. The blond kid waved a hand aimlessly. Tony poked him a fourth time, and the kid shot up and punched Tony in the nose.

"OW!" Tony flailed and fell off the cot. The floor was rough cement, and even colder than the cot. Tony got to his feet and rubbed at his nose, glaring at the blond kid. "That hurt!"

The blond kid rolled his eyes. His eyes were very blue. "Baby. That weren't nutthin'."

"You're mean." 

"No, I'm not! You hit me first!"

"I did not!" Tony wiped at his nose again. "I was just trying to wake you up! Is my nose bleeding?"

"Baby," the blond kid said again, but this time he didn't sound angry. "No, it's snotty."

"Oh." Tony sneezed.

"Now it's all over your face." Blondie looked like he was going to giggle.

"I don't have a hanky," Tony said, wiping at his face and then looking for something to wipe his hands on. The walls were _nasty_. 

"I always..." Blondie's eyes got very wide as he discovered the pocket he reached for didn't exist. "We're buck-naked!"

"Duh," Tony said. He went over to the cot and wiped his snotty hands on it, expecting Blondie to complain about that, too. "We've been kidnapped," he said, because if Blondie had only just now noticed they were naked, he might not know that.

"KIDNAPPED?"

"Uh huh." Boy, the kid was dumb, Tony thought. "My Dad's rich so I've been kidnapped before. It's not so bad," he lied, because he didn't want Blondie to cry.

"I don't have a Dad," Blondie said. He was breathing in gulps and his eyes were even bigger. "An' Ma's poor."

"Don't tell them that!" Tony grabbed Blondie by the shoulders. "You're... you're... my adopted brother! We just got you, and my Dad will pay to get you back."

"Will he?" Blondie asked, hopefully.

"Sure! He promised me a baby brother! Oh, I'm Tony Stark and you're Adam Stark."

"My name's STEVE! Steve Rogers!" Blondie huffed. Huffing was better than crying.

"My Dad knew a Steve Rogers. But he was a big, big man."

"Really?"

"Uh huh. Big, and brave and strong, and the best, bestest person ever. So you gotta be like him." Tony patted Steve's arms. "Jus' be my brother, Steve Stark. Can you do that?"

Steve nodded. "It's not wrong to lie to bad people." Steve stood up and looked around the room. "Maybe we could get out?"

"The door's locked."

Steve pointed up high on the wall. "We could get out through the vent."

Tony looked up at rusty grate high on the wall. "Oh. Maybe! Good idea, Steve."

They pushed the metal cot towards the wall. It made a loud, screeching noise and the boys pushed faster, panicking. The thin mattress fell off and Steve tripped over it and fell face first to the floor. "Ow." He got up and wiped at his face, coming away with blood. "Push!" he told Tony who had stopped to look at him.

They tugged and yanked at the cot until they had it propped against the wall with the rolled up mattress wedged to hold it at an angle. "You go first," Tony said. "See if you can get the grate open. I'll hold the bed." He figured it'd be easier for him to hold against skinny Steve's weight than the other way around, but he didn't want to hurt Steve's feelings by saying that.

Steve didn't argue, and he didn't complain about the boost Tony gave his butt to help him scramble up the rickety slats. Tony held onto the shaking bed while Steve pulled at the grate. And pulled. And pulled. Bits of rust flaked down, and the bed creaked, and Tony kept looking over his shoulder, expecting the door to open at any moment.

"Got it!" Steve finally said. The grate slipped out of his hand and fell to the floor. It made a LOT of noise, louder than the cot scraping. Tony's ears were ringing, but he heard a yell and the sound of people running.

"Go!" Tony said.

Steve got into the vent, and turned around. "C'mon, Tony!" Steve backed up, vanishing into the vent.

Tony went up the cot as fast as he could. It skidded away from him just as he reached the hole and threw himself in, landing on his chest, with his legs dangling, kicking uselessly. Steve grabbed Tony's arms, and pulled. Tony yelped because he was getting scraped.

"C'mon, Baby!" Steve said.

"Not a baby!" Tony wriggled and got a knee up on the edge, and pushed. He fell on top of Steve. "Go, go, go! They're coming!"

Steve was breathing really funny, but he got up and started crawling ahead of Tony. The ducting went on for a long way, with openings on either side that looked down into rooms. Some had machinery Tony couldn't identify, some were full of crates of supplies, some were empty rooms like the one the boys had been locked in, but a lot of them were full of people wearing weird yellow jumpsuits with buckets over their heads. The yellow people were yelling, which Tony would have thought funny, if he wasn't so scared. 

Steve stopped moving in one of the darker stretches between rooms. He was wheezing really loud, so loud Tony was afraid they might be heard even over the yelling.

"Go," Tony said, and pushed at Steve's butt.

"Ca...can't," Steve said between wheezes. "Dust...dusty. You go."

Tony squeezed past Steve, half climbing over him and turned around to pat at Steve's face. "C'mon!" 

Steve shook his head, but after a minute he got up on hands and knees. "Sometimes... I can't breathe. Dust makes me sick."

Tony could feel Steve trembling under his hands. "We'll get out at the next empty room." He'd hoped to find a vent leading upward and outside, but it was all too confusing, trying to map it out in his mind it was just really, really big.

Steve nodded, and they went on, a lot slower. Tony tried to push the dust out of the way, but that didn't really help. Finally a long, long time later, maybe five minutes, which was a long time, Tony always felt, Tony kicked out a grate in a room full of boxes on metal shelves. He crawled out and sneezed, and then helped Steve out. They climbed down the shelves slowly, with Tony holding onto Steve until they reached the floor. Steve leaned against a box and just wheezed.

"You're all right," Tony told him, patting his shoulders and wiping cobwebs out of Steve's hair. "You're a Stark. Starks are made of iron," he said.

Steve nodded, and didn't say anything. He wrapped his arms around his knees and put his head down. After a few minutes the wheezing was quieter. Tony kept rubbing Steve's back, while trying to listen for the sounds of anyone coming close. "Better?"

"Uh. Uh huh," Steve said. He grabbed at the shelving and pulled himself to his feet. "You gotta get out. You go. Call your Dad. I can't. I can't walk no more."

"I'm not leaving you." Tony looked at Steve, trying to figure things out. Then he grinned. "Piggyback! Jarvis showed me how." Tony got in front of Steve. "Get on my back, and I'll carry you."

"No! I'm not a baby."

"Come on, it'll be fun!"

"I'm too heavy," Steve said.

"No, you're not. You're my brother," Tony said. "You're mine."

Steve argued for a few more minutes, but Tony had got his stubborn on, and he out stubborned Steve, so finally Steve got on Tony's back and wrapped his arms and legs around while Tony reached his arms behind to lock his hands under Steve's legs. Tony leaned forward, and took a step. "Yeah. I can do this. Soldiers do this," Tony said to make Steve feel better about it. 

"Really?"

"Sure. Jarvis was in the army. He told me this is how you carry a wounded soldier, 'bravely fallen on the field of battle'." 

"Oh." Steve sounded happier.

Tony went to the door, and Steve reached to turn the knob and open it. They looked out in the corridor and didn't see anyone. "Ok, here we go." Tony was glad that Steve was a skinny little thing. Tony was short, but he was _sturdy_ Jarvis had told him. He could do this. They hadn't got very far before Tony heard screaming and banging and a lot of other noise. It sounded like it was coming from behind them. Tony started running, but a moment later people were running _past_ him and he got knocked down. Steve fell off his back.

"STEVE!" Tony turned and grabbed Steve. Steve pointed up. Tony looked up. And up. And up some more. There was a huge, green giant standing, bent over because he was so tall if he stood up straight he'd go through the cement ceiling.

The yellow people were running from the green man, Tony realized. "Are you a good giant, or a bad giant?" Tony asked, trying to be brave. 

"Yeah," Steve said. "Are you gonna grind our bones to make your bread?" Tony elbowed Steve. "Don't give him ideas!"

The giant's face wrinkled up in confusion. "HULK NOT EAT PEOPLE." A yellow person came up and aimed a gun at Hulk. Hulk reached out without looking and punched the yellow man so hard he flew down the corridor. "TONY AND STEVE TINY. STAY WITH HULK. HULK PROTECT."

Tony and Steve exchanged glances. It wasn't as if they had a choice. "All right," Tony said for both of them. Then Hulk picked them up and put them on his shoulder. Steve wheezed. Tony patted Steve's back. "Hulk, do you know the way out?"

"HULK KNOW. HOLD ON. TINY STEVE AND TONY NOT FALL." 

Tony grabbed a handful of Hulk's wiry black hair and wrapped his other arm around Steve. "How did you know our names?" Tony asked. Steve was too busy trying to breathe to say anything, but he nodded.

"HULK KNOW."

Tony decided not to make the giant angry by asking too many questions, so he just held Steve, and enjoyed the ride. "I have a pony," he told Hulk. "But you're much better!" he said as Hulk punched out a piece of ceiling and leaped through it.

Hulk grunted. "HULK KNOW. HULK AWESOME." Hulk punched a few more ceilings and jumped until they broke through to the outside world. Hulk walked over rubble, crunching under his feet. Tony looked around. There were lots of shaggy trees and bushes and patches of scraggly weeds, not like Central Park at all. And there was a big, funny looking airplane set down on the weeds. "Look," Tony said, pointing at the plane.

"Wow," Steve managed, and then he wheezed more.

"STEVE NEED BRUCE." Hulk stomped over to the plane and put Steve and Tony down in front of it. And then the giant shrank and stopped being green, winding up a ordinary looking person, asleep on the ground. Steve was wheezing even more now. Tony rubbed his back, but it didn't seem to help much. 

Tony kicked the man on the ground. "Are you Bruce?" He kicked harder. "Hulk said you could help Steve." The man jerked and sat up, rubbing his head. "Ow, yeah, I'm Bruce. Stop that, Tony," he said. He blinked and then he reached out to Steve. "Um. Asthma, right? Ok, should have expected that. I've got... in the quinjet. Medicine."

Tony narrowed his eyes and pulled Steve closer. He sounded like Dad did sometimes. The times he smelled funny and walked funny. And yelled a lot.

The man coughed and then he smiled at Tony. "Yeah, you just take care of Steve. I'll be right back. Don't... don't go anywhere!" He got up and held onto his trousers with one hand, and went into the plane through a door that opened when he waved his hand at it. That was very interesting, but Tony was too worried about Steve to think much of it. The man came out a few seconds later carrying a bag with a red cross on it. 

Steve brightened when he saw the bag. "Mom... mom's a nurse," he managed before he ran out of breath again. 

"This is good medicine, Steve. It'll help." The man opened the bag and took out a little gadget. He helped Steve put the end in his mouth and then he talked quietly while he explained what to do, and how it worked. Tony was relieved that Steve started breathing easier right away. The man then said, "Um. We should get in the quinjet to wait for the others." He picked up Steve, and Tony followed him into the plane.

The man set Steve down on a seat and fussed over him while Tony watched. He put a blanket around Steve and gave Tony another one.

"Did my father send you?" Tony asked.

"Um, no. My friends and I, we... have a sort of club. We help people in trouble," he said.

"For free?" Tony was suspicious. Maybe this man just stole them from the kidnappers. 

"Yeah," the man smiled. "We have a rich friend. He's very generous. He lets us use his quinjet."

Steve frowned. "Rich people are greedy. That's how they get rich."

"Rich people are smart. That's how they get rich," Tony said. He stuck out his tongue at Steve. Steve stuck his tongue out at Tony.

Bruce laughed. "Yeah, I should be recording this." There was a beep from the front of the plane. Bruce said, "Stay here. You don't want me to get the big guy after you."

Tony and Steve nodded. Tony didn't think Steve was up to running, anyway. Bruce went to the front and pressed a button. "I've got them on the quinjet. Do you have the device?" 

A woman's voice said, "Yes. We're on our way. Clint is having fun, but he's running low on arrows."

"Arrows?" Tony asked. "Couldn't your rich friend buy him a gun?"

"Maybe he likes arrows," Steve said.

"Guns are so much better," Tony replied.

"That depends on the circumstances," a woman said. Tony turned in surprise. A woman wearing a very tight black...Tony didn't know what to call it, and a man wearing something he also didn't have a name for, entered the plane. The man had a bow held in his hand. The woman tossed a small shiny thing shaped like a gun, but not quite, to Bruce.

"Robin Hood!" Steve said gleefully. "He takes from the rich and gives to the poor!"

"That's stupid," Tony said. "Then the poor would be rich, and he'd have to steal from them!" That shut Steve up for a moment, as he thought it over. Tony added, "And Robin Hood wears Lincoln Green not purple! I read it."

"Yeah, no, I'm not Robin Hood," the man said. He grinned at Tony and Steve. "We're set to go." He went up to the front of the plane. The woman shut the plane's door, and sat down next to Bruce, who was examining the gadget. The plane took off. It went straight up and then forward, very smoothly.

Steve nudged Tony. "She could be Maid Marian?" He sounded doubtful.

"No," the woman said. Her mouth twitched. "My name is Natasha."

From the front of the plane, the purple bowman was snickering.

"She's not a maid," Tony said. "Maids wear black and white and they have funny little hat things."

Natasha didn't say anything. Steve said, "Natasha is wearing black."

"Ninjas wear black," Tony said. "Are you a ninja?"

"Yes," Natasha said seriously. "I am a ninja."

"Can you make yourself invisible?" Tony asked.

"Yes," Natasha said. 

"Do it, do it!" Tony demanded. 

"Maybe later." Natasha leaned across to tap the gadget. "Well?" she asked Bruce.

"Looks fairly straightforward. It's even got a 'reverse' setting. I'll run a few tests in the lab, but we should be good."

"You have a lab?" Tony asked. "Can I see it?"

"Sure, Tony," Bruce said. He patted Tony on the head.

Tony decided even if they were kidnappers, they were nice ones. He put his arms around Steve because Steve had gone awfully quiet and he was shivering. "Labs are fun, Steve. But you can't touch anything or you might 'splode."

Steve nodded, and then he yawned and leaned against Tony. "I won't."

Tony yawned, too, because Steve yawned. He tried to keep his eyes open, but he was tired from all the vent crawling and Steve carrying and airplane rides always made him sleepy anyway. He gave up and closed them. He was thinking sleepily about labs and big, green men, and purple Robin Hoods, and yellow men and black ninjas when he felt a thicker blanket settle around him. "Jarvis?" he mumbled.

"Shh," Bruce said. 

 

Someone was carrying Tony. He wriggled a little, but then he heard Jarvis's voice and knew everything was ok. Jarvis would take care of Tony and Steve. Jarvis always took care of everything.

**Author's Note:**

> Tony and Steve got turned back to normal with no problems.
> 
> Thor was in Asgard, that's why he didn't show up. (Ok, so I didn't think of him until I was done, and didn't want to go back and write him in. Maybe he and Jane were in the Bahamas, getting a tan.)


End file.
